9.8 KiB
Sales
The organization has approx. XXX customers with X% located in Germany, Y% in other European countries and Z% in other countries. The customer acquisition is mostly done through online and print marketing. Online marketing consists of the own website and advertisement through various online services such as google, faceboox, linkedin, etc. Print marketing consists of occasional advertisements in print media such as ????.
| Key Objective | Target | Achieved |
|---|---|---|
| Sales reach budget | >= XXX EUR (+ Y %) | YES |
| Customer count reach budget | >= XXX | YES |
Offer for customer
When making offers to customers the following aspects should always be included in the first offer unless the customer explicitly requested the sales employee to not mention them on the invoice (R1):
- The product the customer is interested in
- Product installation and configuration
- Product training fee per hour
- Total hours for training should be estimated based on product and expected amount of people to train
- Support & maintenance contract
- Payment terms:
- Generally, 10 days after invoice
- Maintenance contracts are invoiced for 12 months in advance
- Offers must be always non-binding
Offers must be created in the IT system. In the IT system various default offers are available which can be copied and modified if applicable to create an offer (R2). If no applicable default offer is available individual offers can be created.
Prices and discounts must follow the pricing policy and are stored in the IT system (R3). Deviations from this pricing policy must be approved by the CEO (R4). Changes to the default prices in the IT system can only be done by the head of sales or by the head of finance. (R5)
Offers can be edited as long as they are not delivered to the customer (or marked as delivered). (R6)
All offers created in the IT system are automatically none-binding. (R7)
Order from customer
After receiving the order from the customer the following aspects must be checked manually from the order by the sales department (R8a):
- Is the order binding?
- Is the order consistent with a previous offer or the standard prices and products offered?
- Is the order done by authorized personnel (e.g. CEO, authorized officer)?
- Are all documents available (e.g. if the customer requests a maintenance contract this contract must be signed, signed data protection policy, ...)
If an order arrives through the online shop no manual checks must be performed because they are guaranteed through the IT system / online forms. In such a case the order is automatically approved. (R8b)
Order confirmation for customer
Before creating a order confirmation the sales employee has to check if the order from the customer is approved by the head of sales or automatically generated from the IT system (R8a-R8b). Afterwards the sales employee can create a order confirmation which must be approved by a sales manager in the IT system.
If the order came from the online shop no manual interaction is necessary and the IT system automatically generates the order confirmation for the customer. (R8a-R8b).
Order confirmations can be edited as long as they are not delivered to the customer (or marked as delivered). (R7).
Delivery
Invoices can be edited as long as they are not delivered to the customer (or marked as delivered) (R7).
Manual delivery/setup
Some products either require manual "delivery" or the customer requests manual "delivery/setup". Examples are customer training, customization, support during the setup or configuration process, etc.
In such a case the sales department coordinates with the necessary departments and the customer the delivery of the requested product or service.
Automatic delivery/setup
Many products can be delivered automatically and immediately. Examples are license upgrades or continuation, maintenance contract term extension, software extension/modules, etc. which the user can install by themselves if they choose so.
In such a case the IT system automatically delivers the order. For licenses, contracts etc. the IT system adjusts the stored conditions for the customer. For software the IT system provides access or download links to the purchased software.
Invoice for customer
Invoices can be manually or automatically printed and send per mail, manually generated as PDF and manually or automatically send per e-mail depending on the customer settings.
Invoice contents
Deviations to the pricing policy which is stored in the IT system are automatically recognized by the system and must be approved by the CEO before the invoice can be generated (R4).
Taxes on invoices are automatically calculated according to the customer settings and the ordered products and services (R9). Changes to taxes must be approved in the IT system by an accounting employee from the accounts receivable department. Without such an approval the invoice cannot be generated. (R10)
Manual delivery/setup
After the delivery/setup the sales department issues the invoice to the customer. The system imports the information from the order confirmation and generates a invoice for the customer. If manual adjustments need to be made compared to the original order confirmation a sales manager has to approve these changes in the IT system. (R11)
Automatic delivery/setup
In such a case the invoice is automatically and immediately generated by the IT system after the delivery of the order.
Accounts Receivables
Booking
The booking of invoices is automatically performed by the IT system after the delivery of the invoice to the customer. The correct accounting period, accounts, descriptions, taxes, cost centers, etc. are automatically generated by the IT system based on the customer settings, invoice settings as well as product and service settings. (R12)
Collection
In case a customer doesn't pay their invoice according to the payment terms they receive up to 3 reminders:
| Type | Charge / fee |
|---|---|
| First reminder | 0 EUR |
| Second reminder | 0.5% reminder fees (max. 150 EUR) |
| Last reminder | additional 0.5% reminder fees (max. 150 EUR) |
Payment reminders are generated by the IT system every 2 weeks (R13). The accountants responsible for the reminders can choose to exclude individual invoices and reminders. This can be helpful if invoices are challenged and need to get clarified.
After the second reminder, the account gets automatically locked by the IT system and no further orders can be made by the customer. (R14)
If a customer doesn't pay after the 3rd invoice they are handed over either to a lawyer for collection through legal means, sold to third parties for collection or booked as loss on bad debts. The decision for the steps taken must be made by the head of finance based on a IT system generated accounts receivable list. (R15)
If a customer pays during one of the three reminders he may continue to purchase products and services from the organization. If the customer only pays after the hand off to a lawyer etc. the head of finance may decide if the customer can continue to purchase from the organization. If the customer doesn't pay or declares insolvency no further purchases are allowed by the customer.
Payment
The IT system automatically tries to match the payments to unpaid accounts receivables and/or customers based on the provided information from the payment (R16). The accounts receivable accountant responsible for booking customer payments has to approve or adjust the IT system suggestions (R17).
Credit Card
Paypal
Wire transfer
Direct debit
Sub Processes
New customer
If a customer is not in the IT system the customer must be added. The following information must be added to the IT system (R18):
- Full company name incl. legal form
- VAT ID if available
- Address
- Contact information
- Main phone number
- Main email address
- Name of main contact person if available
- Invoicing type (e.g. email or mail)
These information can be often found on the website (e.g. contacts, impressum) or on the letter head of customer etc.
Adding additional information is often helpful. If a customer makes a order online these information are requested on the website and the customer must provide them before the website submits the order.
The IT system is performing a credit score check (R19a-R19b), a sanction check and a VAT ID check (if available) in the background (R19). If these fail the sales department is automatically informed to check the customer and make changes or manually approve the new customer (R20). Only after the approval of the customer offers, order confirmations, invoices, etc. can be created for that customer in the IT system
Regular customer checks
Once a day every customer is automatically checked against sanction lists. (R21)
Customer acquisition
Prospect initiated
Most prospect or customer initiated acquisition comes from one of the following main marketing measures:
- online advertisements
- website / shop
- search engines
- social media advertisement
- occasional advertisement in professional journals depending on the target group
Karaka initiated
Purchased contact information
The organization occasionally purchases contact addresses (email & mail addresses) which get contacted (cold acquisition).
Events
The organization occasionally visits events where it holds presentations with various topics. Additionally, the organization sometimes has a booth at trade fairs, seminars etc. where it presents their products.
2022-01-01 - Version 1.0